To Change or Not to Change....Is That the Question?

(Rom 15:1-7 NKJV) We then who are strong ought to bear with
the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. {2} Let each of us
please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. {3} For even Christ
did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who
reproached You fell on Me." {4} For whatever things were written before were
written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the
Scriptures might have hope. {5} Now may the God of patience and comfort grant
you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, {6}
that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. {7} Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also
received us, to the glory of God.

Change can be a difficult thing. No one really likes to change, yet we
all must do it and are always in a state of change in some degree or another.
Usually it is imperceptible, so we are not so aware of it and are able to
accommodate it easily. Then over time we find that we have changed, especially
when we look back in our yearbooks and recall what we were like during college
or high school. Sometimes the realization of that change can come as a shock,
especially when it comes to changes in physical appearance. How many men
have looked in the mirror and discovered that there is a growing bald spot
on the back of their head. Every time my wife cuts my hair, she tells me
that my hair is getting so thin on top. She really knows how to make a guy
feel good about himself!

I'm not sure how many times in seminary and college we discussed how difficult
it is for churches to change. Any pastor who comes into a church an initiates
massive changes in the way thing are done are usually short lived pastors.
Change always has to be introduced slowly and over a long period of time.
Yet there are times in a church's life and in individual's lives when drastic
change is forced on them, and the ensuing result is an identity crisis as
old paths and ways of doing things are left behind and there is an uncertainty
about what the church will become. In some ways, these are exciting times
for you get a sense that God is at work, yet it is an unsettling time, for
you are loosing connections that have always defined who you are as an individual
or a church.

Paul demonstrates a principle to keep in mind in the midst of changes
in a church. Drastic changes in a church usually result in a division: those
for the change and those against it. So it was in Paul's day, when the Gentiles
were coming into the early Christian Church, there was a big push by many
people to also make these Gentiles become Jews. Acts 15 tells of the Jerusalem
council that convened to decide the issue of which Jewish laws the Gentile
converts should follow. Then James, the overseer of the Church in Jerusalem
makes this statement: (Acts 15:19-20 NKJV) "Therefore I judge that we
should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,
{20} "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols,
from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

Yet, one of the items that Paul continues to deal with, even years later
in this letter to the Romans is the question of eating that which has been
offered to an idol. It is obvious that not all were in agreement with this
decision of James. Some felt it was alright to eat things offered to idols
seeing it was just meat and they were in no way worshiping the idol because
that was not in their heart. They just saw it as meat to feed the body. In
Romans 14, Paul basically seems to agree with these folk. He says, "(Rom
14:14 NKJV) I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing
unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him
it is unclean." Paul is going on his traditional teaching that it is by faith
that these things are decided for a person. Outward actions and their meanings
are defined by the intent and faith of the heart. So for that person who
does not worship the idol in their hearts by eating meat offered to it, there
is no condemnation. For those who do feel they would be worshiping the idol,
they would be sinning to eat of it. Paul labels these things as "doubtful"
(Rom 14:1), that is, practices that in and of themselves do not define the
essence of the faith, except as it holds meaning for the one doing it.

Based on this, Paul says we are not to judge another's holiness, another's
sincerity, another's faith with God by these outward practices. Each culture,
each nation, each group of people have a history that defines meanings attached
to these outward practices and what may be holy in one place is not in another.
Indeed, it may even be just the opposite. What is sin in one group may be
nothing at all in another place. We have all heard of the missionaries who
have nursing mothers sitting in the front row of the congregation, with nothing
covering their breast. In America, that is generally not a socially acceptable
practice, confined to nudist colonies. Most Christians here would consider
that sinful and immoral. Yet, in that culture the meaning is totally different.
Men do not view them there the same way we do here. We can no more judge
the holiness of that woman than we can anyone else.

This is a difficult thing for most Christians, for we tend to project
our own concepts of what holiness is by the meanings attached to actions
for ourselves. One lady in a church I use to attend felt that beards were
unholy. Now, she didn't push this too much, but she might mention it to you
if you had one. But you knew that in her eyes, if a preacher got up to preach
wearing a beard, there would be an automatic barrier in her mind already
in place, for true men of God to her didn't wear beards. In America, there
has been a history of seeing a clean shaven man as being the more acceptable
over a bearded man, especially in some groups. Yet, the exact opposite exist
in other cultures, especially in the Eastern countries. There, a man is not
considered to be truly holy unless he has a beard, especially one which is
not cut. So it is easy for us to project our own meanings onto another person's
actions and deduce their motives from that. But Paul warns us about doing
this, in judging the other's spirituality and standing before God based on
actions alone.

But after proclaiming these truths, Paul turns around in Rom 14:19, and
binds those with liberty in such things to those who are bound by these things.
The driving point is Rom 14:20, that we should not destroy the unity and
work of God over such issues. Thus, if doing something that we feel free
to do would cause my brother to stumble and sin, I should refrain from doing
it, at least in that person's presence. Paul basically says that if you are
free by faith in a matter that others are not, then keep it to yourself before
God. In other words, do it privately when you know that your brother is not
watching. In some ways this could seem hypocritical, but it is not. Hypocrisy
is saying one thing and doing another. That would not be the case here. In
this instance, you are simply trying to protect your weaker brother. Yet,
Paul does warn us that we must be careful in what we approve of, that we
don't condemn ourselves by approving of that which is in itself sin, and
not just a matter of faith and conscientious. There are those who use these
passages to approve of sexual immorality and other things which have been
wrong through all cultures and times.

Therefore, Paul concludes at the beginning of chapter 15 that we should
bear with those who are weak on such matters. Unity and peace in the family
is more important than having our own way when it comes to matters of faith
in practice. The goal is in Rom 15:6, that we may all with one mouth and
mind glorify God in heaven. Creating disunity over matters of what is alright
to do and not alright to do does not glorify God. Thus, those who have felt
that it is alright to ignore a certain practice are to bear with those who
feel it is important, in order that we might have a unified witness.

It is at this point that change in the Church takes on meaning. Change
is a slow process, usually involving two or three generations. Each generation
views things under a little different cultural light. New history is added
to the history of their parents. The tendency is to not wait, but to push
through change, ignoring the cries of those who complain as old fashion,
resistant to the progress of the Gospel. This usually results in division.
We see it in the Southern Baptist convention, the fundamentalist against
the liberals. Each denomination can probably point to its liberal and
conservative groups that hold a tension between massive change and keeping
things the way they are. The more one group pushes, the harder the other
one pulls. What results to those outside the church is a disunity, a lack
of praise to God. Although there will always be that tension in the Church,
it should never result in division, but the different sides should bear with
one another in love for the sake of unity in Christ.

In my personal life, I am in the midst of some great changes. I have resigned
as pastor of this church, and am seeking out what God would have for me to
do in the years ahead. There is uncertainty about my direction at this point
though I have some general directions to shoot in. I don't plan to continue
as a pastor, but my ministry will be directed in a different direction. This
coming Sunday (May 12) is my last Sunday. There is that sense of disconnectedness
and venturing forth into the unknown. Although emotionally I know this is
a difficult time, I have to rest in the leading and hand of God in my life
that is directing me this way. Change is difficult. It does not come about
without some inner turmoil and stress. However, the greatest praise that
we can give to God as an individual or a church, is to show them that God
is greater than the stress of change. We will not allow that stress to destroy
the faith of God in our lives and Church. We will continue to respect the
historic faith of our parents even while we relate the never changing faith
to an ever changing culture.

Is God able to change your paradigms and ways of looking at things? And
in so doing, are we able to bear with those who still see things the "old"
way? We should be changing. Changing to become more and more one with God.
But we don't have to let go of our brother's hand to do it. Love is our grip
with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Such love maintains the unity even
in the midst of change and disagreements about it. Love "Beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (1 Cor 13:7
KJV) Love never fails. So bear with one another as God changes us from glory
into glory according to His will. Amen.